RESTful Invoke BPM Process Using Apache CXF by John Featherly

March 5, 2016 Leave a comment

 

clip_image002Apache CXF is a services framework that is the open source evolution of IONA Celtix and Codehaus XFire, hence the name CXF. CXF has extensive support for Web Service standards WS-*, JAX-WS and JAX-RS APIs etc. but the focus of this article is on the CXF web service client proxy factory and running it in a WebLogic web app implementing a REST service. As a demonstration we will build a service using JDeveloper that invokes an Oracle BPM process with a message start service interface. REST “clients” are lightweight and simpler to implement than SOAP web service clients. A REST to SOAP converter for BPM processes make them more accessible.

For the impatient, the two key enablers are to determine the proper subset of CXF library jars and resolve any conflicts with WebLogic libraries. The CXF distribution has 149 jars and you don’t want to just simply add them all to your project. The following list is based on the dynamic client sample in the CXF distribution from the 3.1.0 release.

The Demo Service

The demo is a RESTful service that invokes a message start BPM process via the usual SOAP Web Service call based on the published WSDL for the process. The service will be deployed and run on WebLogic. The process can have any number of parameters which we will assume to be all of type string to keep things simple. It would be straightforward to handle arbitrary types since we introspect the generated proxy class but I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader. The most common BPM process invoke is asynchronous with no callback, go do your work and don’t ever bother me about it. That is call mechanism implemented in the demo.

BPM Process

A sample BPM process is needed to test the REST service. A representative process will have a message Start with End type set to None since we won’t be listening for a callback.

The defined interface with four sample string arguments would look like: Read the complete article here.

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About Jürgen Kress
As a middleware expert Jürgen works at Oracle EMEA Alliances and Channels, responsible for Oracle’s EMEA Fusion Middleware partner business. He is the founder of the Oracle SOA & BPM and the WebLogic Partner Communities and the global Oracle Partner Advisory Councils. With more than 5000 members from all over the world the Middleware Partner Community is the most successful and active community at Oracle. Jürgen manages the community with monthly newsletters, webcasts and conferences. He hosts his annual Fusion Middleware Partner Community Forums and the Fusion Middleware Summer Camps, where more than 200 partners get product updates, roadmap insights and hands-on trainings. Supplemented by many web 2.0 tools like twitter, discussion forums, online communities, blogs and wikis. For the SOA & Cloud Symposium by Thomas Erl, Jürgen is a member of the steering board. He is also a frequent speaker at conferences like the SOA & BPM Integration Days, JAX, UKOUG, OUGN, or OOP.

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